Re: 1.7GHz CPU running at 599MHz, FSB (only?) running at 99.9MHz

The clock speed is variable and cycles down to save power/heat.  Pretty
much all notebooks and a moderate number of desktops do this nowadays.
Intel used to market this as "SpeedStep".  599MHz (probably supposed to
be 600) is probably the minimum for a lightly loaded machine.  Cooling
fans and some other system components can also dynamically adjust their
performance to reduce power consumption & heat generation.

IMHO it's none of the app's business what speed chip it's running on;
adequate performance is up to the user (and their budget) to determine
unless it's really timing dependent (manages controller interfaces or
whatever).  Anyway, I'd be talking to the vendor about how their program
doesn't understand 7 year old PC technology (variable speed CPUs).  If
they'd read the CPU ID via system call or measure CPU speed under a
stress test they'd find the real potential CPU speed.  Also, MHz aren't
the only factor nowadays.  As we all know from the iSeries, cache
size/speed make a huge difference and the PentiumMs come with up to 2MB
cache.  Cache, or the lack of, is still the main reason why Celeron CPUs
stink despite relatively decent clock speeds.

The FSB may be 100MHz but it is likely double or quad-pumped; i.e. at
100MHz it's bandwidth is probably 200 or 400 Mb/sec.

My Dell, BTW, has the 2GHz PentiumM with 2MB cache and it's plenty fast.

John A. Jones, CISSP
Americas Information Security Officer
Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
V: +1-630-455-2787 F: +1-312-601-1782
john.jones@xxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: pctech-bounces+john.jones=am.jll.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:pctech-bounces+john.jones=am.jll.com@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Dan
Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 9:45 AM
To: PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users
Subject: [PCTECH] 1.7GHz CPU running at 599MHz,FSB (only?) running at
99.9MHz

I've got a work-issued IBM Thinkpad T42 with a 1.7GHz Pentium M CPU.
Had an application cop out because it reported that it required a 1.0GHz
or faster processor.  Open up Control Panel, System, and it's reporting
that it's a 1.7GHz processor running at 599MHz!  So, I reboot to open
the BIOS, the chip speed under AC power was set to Automatic, and I
change it to Maximum Performance.  Save and reboot, System is now
reporting 1.7GHz and running at that speed.  Woot.

I find and download CPU-z, just to verify some other things, and am
surprised to see the FSB is only reporting 99.9MHz.  (The Bus Speed is
reporting 399.7MHz.)  Is that a tad low for the FSB?

Since we're using Group 1 Software's DOC1 application, I would like to
maximize performance as this thing is extremely resource hungry.

FWIW, we are *very* well air-conditioned here.  Too cold for my liking,
actually.  So, I'm not concerned about over-heating.

Comments / advice on this topic is very much welcomed!

- Dan
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